People buying health insurance under the "exchange" in Senate Democrats' health care bill would pay higher premiums than they would under current law for their plans, but new subsidies would more than offset the increased costs for more than half those people, paying almost 60 percent of their premiums, according to a new analysis. Read more »
President Obama headed to the Capitol on Sunday to help Senate Democratic leaders rally their fractious troops behind a compromise version of the health care overhaul bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his lieutenants have been struggling to put out brushfires ignited by sparks of resistance from the left and right within the 60-member Democratic caucus. Read more »
When senators cast their final votes on a health care overhaul, one of their biggest considerations will be what shape they'll leave Medicare in if hundreds of billions of dollars are cut from the popular program. The idea is that Medicare spending would be reduced to find dollars to help fund coverage of 31 million uninsured Americans.
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Like a goalie deflecting pucks at hockey practice, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag shrugged off a wide array of criticisms that the Senate health care overhaul bill misses a historic opportunity to get at the roots of rising health costs. Read more »
Because of evidence that regions with lower levels of treatment in the Medicare program do not have lower quality care, policy analysts see great hope for lowering national spending growth by bringing levels of service down in some parts of the country. However, a new study by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) shows that those regional variations aren't as great as analysts thought—if one looks at actual differences in levels of the use of health care services as distinct from spending variations.
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A federal grant intended to boost primary care services for residents of the New Orleans region in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has proved successful, especially for low-income and uninsured patients, witnesses told a House panel Thursday. But with funding for the grant slated to end in September 2010, the future of the clinics that provide these services could be in jeopardy, witnesses said. Read more »